Implementation by UNCTAD of the outcome of the High-level Meeting on Integrated Initiatives for Least Developed Countries` Trade Development

The Trade and Development Board,

1. Takes note of the report of the High-level Meeting (WT/COMTD/12);
2. Endorses the Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance, including for Human and Institutional Capacity-Building, to Support Least Developed Countries in their Trade and Trade-Related Activities and notes with satisfaction that the Framework aims to ensure that trade-related technical assistance activities are demand-driven by the least developed countries and meet their individual needs effectively;
3. Invites the UNCTAD secretariat, in the context of its work programme on issues of concern to LDCs, to:
1. Contribute, through inter-agency coordination, to providing an integrated response to the trade-related technical assistance needs of those LDCs which submitted needs assessment reports but which were not featured in pilot country round tables;
2. Assist in refining needs assessment, as required;
3. Help, upon request, such LDC Governments that have submitted needs assessments to prepare, jointly with other agencies/partners, a multi-year trade-related technical cooperation programme;
4. Upon request, contribute actively and provide technical support to those round-table processes at the country level envisaged in paras 5 (e) and (f) of the Integrated Framework;
5. Contribute to the establishment and maintenance of an integrated country data base within the scope of the Integrated Framework;
6. Contribute to the implementation, review, monitoring and evaluation of each country programme through an enhanced co-ordination process with the other organizations involved;
7. Include UNCTAD activities under the Integrated Framework in the secretariat´s annual report on technical cooperation to the Working Party on the Medium-term Plan and the Programme Budget and the Board;
8. Ensure that existing relevant technical cooperation activities of UNCTAD, including country-specific, sectoral and other inter-agency programmes, are supportive of, complement and promote the effective implementation of the outcome of the High-level Meeting;
4. Invites development partners of LDCs, both bilateral and multilateral, to provide adequate extrabudgetary resources as necessary to UNCTAD to supplement regular budget allocations to implement the above activities in conformity with paragraph 5(j) of the Integrated Framework;
5. Requests the UNCTAD secretariat to ensure that the outcome of the two thematic round tables organized within the framework of the High-level Meeting is brought to the attention of the relevant Commissions and expert meetings of UNCTAD for consideration and necessary follow-up action; in particular, the outcome on trade should be referred to the Commission on Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities, that on investment to the Commission on Investment, Technology and Related Financial Issues, and the outcome on wider development issues to the Commission on Enterprise, Business Facilitation and Development; the secretariat is requested to provide these Commissions with option papers setting out the policy options they may wish to consider in the light of the outcomes;
6. Recommends that the Secretary-General of UNCTAD consider convening as soon as possible an ad hoc meeting on GSP, GSTP and new initiatives for LDCs in the area of market accessto provide an opportunity for officials and experts from member States to discuss the major new developments in their national GSP schemes, including review of their special provisions in favour of LDCs, propose measures to extend the necessary advisory services to enhance GSP/market access utilization, and follow up and monitor the announcements made in this regard during the High-level Meeting; the report of this ad hoc meeting should be brought to the attention of the Commission on Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities;
7. Requests the UNCTAD secretariat to inform the Board, on a six-monthly basis to begin as soon as possible, on progress of work in the design and in the implementation of activities related to the High-level Meeting, and in particular on:
1. Work relating to inter-agency co-ordination, both at the headquarters level and in the field;
2. Suggested priorities arrived at in consultation with other agencies for the implementation of its part of the outcome of the High-level Meeting, taking into account available and possible future resources;
3. The relevant allocation of resources, including, where possible, cost estimates relating to both regular-budget and extrabudgetary activities, including those supported by the Trust Fund for LDCs;
8. Invites the Secretary-General of UNCTAD to consider, in cooperation with the relevant organizations, appropriate arrangements at the inter-agency level to ensure coordinated implementation of the outcome of the High-level Meeting and to report at the April consultations of the President of the Board for further consideration of the matter by the Trade and Development Board;
9. Recommends that, in the light of the report of the Secretary-General, the Trade and Development Board consider how best to achieve intergovernmental coordination between the relevant organizations in order to ensure the most efficient implementation of the outcome of the High-level Meeting.

892^nd plenary meeting
16 February 1998